The present invention generally relates to methods of producing materials and articles with nanocrystalline microstructures, and more particularly to producing such materials and articles by machining and then using the nanocrystalline material to form a product.
Significant benefits can be gained by deforming metal alloys through the application of very large plastic strains. Principal among these are microstructure refinement and enhanced mechanical and physical properties. Of particular current interest is the use of “severe” plastic deformation (SPD) to produce bulk solids with ultra-fine grained microstructures (UFG's), especially nanocrystalline structures (NS) characterized by their atoms arranged in crystals with a nominal dimension of less than one micrometer. Nanocrystalline solids have become of interest because they appear to have significant ductility, formability and resistance to crack propagation, and possess interesting chemical, optical, magnetic and electrical properties. Nanocrystalline solids also appear to respond to radiation and mechanical stress quite differently than microcrystalline materials (crystals with a nominal dimension of one micrometer to less than one millimeter), and their response can be varied by changing the crystal size. Materials made by consolidating nanocrystalline powders have also been shown to have enhanced attributes not typically found in conventional materials. As a result, nanocrystalline materials are believed to have significant potential for use in industrial applications, provided they can be manufactured in a cost-effective manner.
Multi-stage deformation processing is one of the most widely used experimental approaches to studying microstructural changes produced by very large strain deformation. Notable examples include such techniques as rolling, drawing and equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). In this approach, very large plastic strains (true plastic strains of four or more) are imposed in a specimen by the cumulative application of deformation in multiple stages, the effective strain in each stage of deformation being on the order of one. The formation of micro- and nanocrystalline structures has been demonstrated in a variety of ductile metals and alloys using multi-stage deformation processing. However, there are significant limitations and disadvantages with this processing technique. A significant limitation is the inability to induce large strains in very strong materials, such as tool steels. Other limitations include the inability to impose a strain of much greater than one in a single stage of deformation, the considerable uncertainty of the deformation field, and the minimal control over the important variables of the deformation field—such as strain, temperature, strain rate and phase transformations—that are expected to have a major influence on the evolution of microstructure and material properties.
The most widely used technique for synthesizing nanocrystalline metals has been by condensation of metal atoms from the vapor phase. In this technique, the metal is evaporated by heating and the evaporated atoms then cooled by exposure to an inert gas such as helium or argon to prevent chemical reactions, thereby enabling the purity of the metal to be maintained. The cooled atoms condense into single-crystal clusters with sizes typically in the range of 1 to 200 nm. The production of ceramic nanocrystals is similar, except that evaporated metal atoms are made to react with an appropriate gas, e.g., oxygen in the case of oxide ceramics, before they are allowed to condense. The resulting crystals may be compacted and sintered to form an article, often at a sintering temperature lower than that required for a microcrystalline powder of the same material. While suitable for making powders and small compacted samples with excellent control over particle size, the condensation method is at present not practical for most applications other than experimental. A particularly limiting aspect of the condensation method is the inability to form nanocrystalline materials of alloys because of the difficulty of controlling the composition of the material from the vapor phase. Another limiting aspect of the condensation method is that high green densities are much harder to achieve as a result of the nano-size particles produced. Other methods that have been explored to synthesize nanocrystals include aerosol, sol-gel, high-energy ball-milling, and hydrothermal processes. However, these techniques cannot produce nanocrystalline materials at a cost acceptable for practical applications.
From the above, it can be seen that it would be desirable if a more controllable and preferably low-cost approach were available for synthesizing nanocrystalline solids for use in the manufacture of products. It would be desirable if such an approach were capable of producing nanocrystalline solids of a wide variety of materials, including very hard materials and alloys that are difficult or impossible to process using prior art techniques.
In addition to the above-noted efforts directed to producing materials through consolidation of nanocrystalline powders, there is also much interest in the creation of micro- and meso-scale parts such as shafts, disks, and gears, from functional materials such as metals, alloys and ceramics. As used herein, micro- and meso-scale parts are two and three-dimensional articles with feature sizes on the order of a few micrometers to a few millimeters. While the application domains for these parts are not yet precisely demarcated, they are expected to be far and wide, encompassing ground transportation, biomedical, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), aerospace, power generation, defense, nuclear industries, and others. Typical micro- and meso-scale manufacturing processes currently being explored include material removal processes such as energy beam machining, micro-milling, micro-turning, laser ablation, and micro electro discharge machining (micro-EDM). These micro- and meso-scale processes employ subtractive material removal machining technologies and complement additive material processes such as rapid prototyping and LIGA (an acronym derived from the German words lithographie, galvanoformung, and abformung (lithography, electroforming, and molding).